VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Penang or San Jose, Costa Rica?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Penang for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Penang’s own page.

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Penang 44, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: Penang leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Penang leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Penang leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Penang and San Jose, Costa Rica are level on 40.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Penang leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Penang leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Penang leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Penang leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Penang leads by 14 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Penang in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

San Jose, Costa Rica's station stands 241 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageMalaySpanish
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-6
Emergency number999911
Elevation4 m1,161 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population794,313335,007
People per km²-7,511
Museums within 10 km99
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Penang or San Jose, Costa Rica somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.